38                 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. [Jan. 12,

nouncing, among other things, that he had issued to this imposing
military force, thus brought into the field, full instructions to pre-
serve the peace of the city, and secure to the legal voters their
rights, against the violence and intimidation of the lawless ruf-
fians, who have disgraced the city, and outraged the elective rights
in the recent .elections;

And Whereas, In said proclamation he commanded that, no
man should leave the precincts of his own ward, unless ordered to
do so by competent authority. Thus he would promote the fair-
ness of the election, and avoid the just retribution that would be
dealt to those vagrant emissaries of disorder, who wander from
place to place, for the purpose of illegal voting;

And Whereas, His Excellency in communicating to the Sen-
ate and House of Delegates, his proceedings in and about the
matters aforesaid, has declared that a decent respect for the opin-
ions of his fellow-citizens, and due concern for the dignity of
his office, and a regard for his personal honor, induced him to
employ that occasion for a dispassionate review of the series of
events intimately connected with our domestic policy, and en-
titled, apart from any concern he might entertain with regard to
himself, to our serious consideration;

And Whereas, The Senate and House of Delegates agree with
his Excellency in reference to the importance of the matter, and
entertaining a high regard tor the dignity, power and honor of
the office which he holds, the checks and balances maintained in
our constitution and form of government, and the peace and
quiet of the community, on the one side, and the freedom and
personal rights of the citizens on the other; and, as they have
been addressed by his Excellency upon the subject, and their
opinions invoked, a due sense of respect for themselves, and the
people of the State of Maryland, whom they represent, impera-
tively demand of them that they should speak upon the subject;

Therefore Resolved, By the General Assembly of Maryland,
that we condemn all frauds upon the ballot-box, by whomsoever
perpetrated, and all violence, hinderance, or intimidation of the
citizen, whether actually threatened in the exercise of his elec-
tive franchise; and we proclaim it, as the unalterable opinion of
the people we represent, that the freedom and purity of the ballot
box is essential to the existence of our free institutions, and the
peace of the Commonwealth; and that they should be preserved,
everywhere within her limits, and by all the power of the State.

And be it further Resolved; That the assertion of His Excel-
lency, that the state of society in the city of Baltimore, on the
eve of the last election, was verging upon the fiercest anarchy;
and that outrages, almost incredible in a civilized community,
were then and there committed; and that an ubiquitous organiza-
tion prevailed, by violence, to the exclusion of voters, at will,